EU officials said efforts to sanction Poland over alleged rule-of-law violations would continue, after Warsaw's attempt to defend itself at an extraordinary disciplinary hearing on Tuesday failed to persuade ministers and European Commission officials.

"Let me be very clear: The systemic threat for the rule-of-law persists," Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans said at a news conference following the hearing before the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg.

"So for us to be able to say that it no longer persists, we will need some more steps from the Polish side," Timmermans said. "We have not had any indications of that today. But who knows — there might be indications in the near future. We remain open for that dialogue."

The hearing against Poland was an extraordinary step, in an already extraordinary effort launched by the Commission in December to invoke disciplinary measures under Article 7 of the EU treaties, which theoretically could lead to the suspension of Poland's voting rights in the European Council.

Such a drastic punishment would require the unanimity of the other 27 EU countries, and Hungary, an ally of Warsaw, has pledged to block such a move. Still, the Commission and the Council have pushed ahead with the process in an effort to maintain pressure on the Polish government over changes to its judiciary system that Brussels views as a threat to rule of law.

The EU's most pressing concern is the law on the Supreme Court, which is set to go into force on July 3.

“Today's discussion between #EU member states was very factual. We have exhausted our arguments regarding the reforms of the Polish judiciary,” said Poland’s secretary of state for European Affairs, Konrad Szymański, in a tweet from the ministry. “We hope that the meeting will bring us closer to ending the dispute about #RuleOfLaw.”

Warsaw did not announce any retreat or intention to change or rescind the controversial reforms, which include empowering the Polish government to remove up to 40 percent of the Supreme Court’s judges and granting the country's justice minister new powers to discipline judges.

The EU's most pressing concern is the law on the Supreme Court, which is set to go into force on July 3.

"These reforms pose a serious threat to the independence of the judiciary in Poland" — Nathalie Loiseau, French EU affairs minister

Other EU countries voiced mounting exasperation over Warsaw's refusal to back down.

"We have already discussed four times the situation of Poland’s rule of law within these walls, but the dialogue initiated since December between the Commission and Poland has not allowed any substantial progress in regard to the concerns over judicial reforms," the French EU affairs minister, Nathalie Loiseau, said at the hearing, according to an EU diplomat.

"These reforms pose a serious threat to the independence of the judiciary in Poland," Loiseau continued. "France and Germany are strongly concerned by the current situation, which has consequences for the whole of the EU, particularly when it comes to cooperation on justice and internal affairs and the functioning of the single market."

"Consequently, it is justified that we pursue the procedure of Article 7, paragraph 1," Loiseau added.

Timmermans, who has led the Commission's enforcement effort against Poland, as well as its negotiations with Warsaw, appeared at the news conference with Ekaterina Zakharieva, the foreign minister of Bulgaria, which will hand over the EU's rotating presidency to Austria on July 1.

Zakharieva said the next steps in the disciplinary process would be decided by Vienna, but she said there was a consensus among EU ministers to continue the disciplinary procedures at the next session of the General Affairs Council.

Timmermans said he still hoped for a compromise. "We do not close the door on the Polish government or anybody else," he said.

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Peter (The Grumpy one)

The Polish foreign minister should have written “here is our article 50” on a piece of paper folded it into an aeroplane and glided it across the room

Posted on 6/27/18 | 2:14 AM CET

glasspix 1

Since the EU’s new measure of rule of law is the number of mosques and gang members per capita in a given country, Poland should persevere on its unruly path of living without fear of terrorism and parallel societies.

Posted on 6/27/18 | 8:29 AM CET

maciek maciek

Poles do not want any compromise with the EU marxists that want to preserve corrupted judiciary in Poland for the sake of its marxist judges.

Posted on 6/27/18 | 9:39 AM CET

GE0RG1 G10RG1

GE0RG1 … WHY AFTER ELECTIONS WON AGAINST EU , POLITICIANS FROM GREECE, HUNGARY , CZECH , POLAND , ITALY TURN THEIR POSITION TOWARDS EU? ARE THEY CONTROLLED BY GERMANY , FRANCE ? . LOOKS LIKE ITALIAN ELECTIONS ARE GOING TO BE MANIPULATED TO KEEP EU SOMEHOW EXISTING , EVEN CLOSED ECONOMIST COMMENTS TODAY FOR COMPLETE VOICE SILENCE. OBSERVE FOR INCIDENTS IN ITALY , SPAIN , PORTUGAL , GREECE AS TARGET 2 DIFFICULT DEBT HOLDERS OF GERMANY. PUBLIC ATTENTION ON CATASTROPHES , POLITICIAN FAMILY INCIDENTS TO PRESERVE DEMOCRACY. THINK WHAT MENTIONED COUNTRIES DEBT BECOMES WITH TARGET 2 DEBTS , MAINLY FROM GERMANY 0.91 TRILLIONS TO SUBSTITUTE LEAVING DEPOSITS. BIG NON GUARANTEED DEPOSITS IN IT , ES ,PT, GR , DE WILL LEAVE NOT PAY THE LOSS OF REFINANCING EXPENSIVELY BANKS. ONLY DEMOCRATIC NEW GOVERNMENTS IN DE , IT , ES CAN WIN BACK THE TRUST AND RETURN DEPOSITS IN BANKS FINANCED BY TARGET 2 , NOT CATASTROPHES AND FEAR IN GOVERNMENTS. IT IS PROBLEMATIC AS LEAVING EURO ZONE IS WINING IDEA , THAT HAS TO BE SMASHED SOMEHOW AND 5 STARS TO LOSE ELECTIONS AS DE , FR WISH PROBABLY. GERMANY SIMILAR TO FRANCE MAY PUT ALL POLITICAL SYSTEM BEHIND SINGLE GOVERNMENT VS THE POPULISTS TO STEAL SOME TIME BEFORE END OF EU. WITH HIGH DEBT IN EU AND USA, SIMILAR TO SERBIA SOME STATES CAN SEPARATE WITHOUT THE HUGE SOVEREIGN DEBT BURDEN , SEE CATALONIA AND SOMEHOW ITALY PROVINCES. HIGH SOVEREIGN DEBT IS HUGE RISK FOR UNIONS AS EU , USA TO STAY TOGETHER. COUNTRIES WITH OWN CURRENCY , ALSO COME BACK TO GROWTH AFTER SOVEREIGN DEBT DEFAULT YOU MAY CHECK FOR ESTABLISH FACT. SO IN EARLY MARCH ELECTIONS , ITALY WILL PROBABLY LEAVE EUROZONE TO ACHIEVE ECONOMIC GROWTH , NOT TO SUFFER 10 YEARS AS GREECE. SO EU , USA MAY GAIN LESS DEBT AND OWN CURRENCY IF FALL APART AND KEEP ECONOMIC GROWTH IN COMING SECULAR RECESSION THAT MAKES POPULATION SKEPTICAL FOR ECONOMY OF UNIONS IN GALLUP SURVEY. AS ONE ARGENTINA FINANCIAL MINSTER SAYS IF YOU LEAVE ONE DOOR OF STABLE OPEN ALL HORSES ARE OUT MORNING. POLITICAL SYSTEMS GAMBLE IN USA EU , FR DE UK IT ES PUT COMPLETE POLITICAL SYSTEM VS POPULISTS AS NOBODY TRUST THE GOVERNMENTS TODAY SIMILAR TO JOHN LAW A FRENCH FINANCE MINISTER THAT CLAIMED THAT HIS COMPANY CONNECTED WITH THE COUNTRY HAS BUILD HUGE PROJECT IN THE FIELDS OF MISSISSIPPI , YELLEN , TRUMP, DRAGHI , JUNCKER BLUFF THERE IS VERY STRONG GROWTH IN US , EU. When revealed that there are no projects in Mississippi , John Law escapes from France where the share bubble ends. Many finance minsters in Europe had similar sad destiny, do you remember also how Ceausescu run and Milosevic was hidden in a kindergarden. the political situation in usa and eu is that many presidents and ministers , central banker are determined to be the worst ever. This is true for USA president and Yellen fed head from cnbc survey as the lowest grade chairman. The French president approval declined at lowest place compared to all recent presidents , with similar situation in UK , Germany , Italy Spain, ECB , EC. Many of them stay to be blamed when deposit rationing is imposed in EU and the share bubble ends in USA to steal your deposits and savings reciprocally in EU and USA. Many politicians are supported by several political parties that puts the complete current political systems against populists as in France example. wiki Populism is a mode of political communication that is based on contrasts between the “common man” or “the people” and a real or imagined group of “privileged elites”, traditionally scapegoating or making a folk devil of the latter. Populists can fall anywhere on the traditional left–right political spectrum of politics, and often portray both bourgeois capitalists and socialist organizers as unfairly dominating the political sphere. Populism is most common in democratic nations. Political scientist Cas Mudde wrote that ” that populism is inherent to representative democracy; after all, do populists not juxtapose ‘the pure people’ against ‘ corrupt elite. I DO NOT HAVE COPY RIGHTS SO DISTRIBUTE IN EU ON LINE EDITIONS CAREFULLY.

Posted on 6/27/18 | 10:18 AM CET

Veritas Semper

Did anybody bring this matter up for a vote? No, of course not. So, as is the “EU custom”, flap those gums and pretend that it is actual work and meaningful exercise…

It is extremely useful and in the interest of France and Germany to continue with denigrating Poland to “unpersuade” the so called “newbies” from rising up. However, had the Council the votes, they would vote. So, the Lisbon Treaty is undermined further by using “extraordinary” measures not found in the signed Treaty.

How truly hypocritical of Brussels (nothing new here, of course). Using illegal means to frame the discussion on the rule of law. Talk, talk, talk…

Posted on 6/27/18 | 11:47 AM CET

e c

Timmermans seems to be nostalgic about his stay in Moscow and USSR’s methods in bringing together “undisciplined” citizens of different republics that dare to have different opinions and vote differently in democratic elections than High Commissars expect.

Frans – just don’t be so shy and make it official anthem of the EUSSR.
It will be consistent with communist’s Alt1ero Spinel1i’s marxist “Vent0tene Manifest0” that you and your colleagues are so fond of.

Posted on 6/27/18 | 12:27 PM CET

X KM

after Warsaw’s attempt to defend itself at an extraordinary disciplinary hearing on Tuesday failed to persuade ministers and European Commission officials.

“Let me be very clear: The systemic threat for the rule-of-law persists,” Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans said at a news conference following the hearing before the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg.

“Today’s discussion between #EU member states was very factual. We have exhausted our arguments regarding the reforms of the Polish judiciary,” said Poland’s secretary of state for European Affairs, Konrad Szymański, in a tweet from the ministry.

Poland had a chance to defend the changes, it looks like Poland is determined to make its court decisions only relavent to within Poland, because other countries will ignore Polish court rulings as they will be untrustworthy.

Posted on 6/27/18 | 12:53 PM CET

Irene Duym

Let Poland be the leader of an East European (V4) entity who survives without EU solidarity and structural funds if they disagree with EU values.